


Worth Fighting For

by Denois



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Bitty Mention, Chowder Mention, Getting Together, Hockey typical violence, M/M, Tango Mention, angst with fluff, corporeal punishment on a child mention, homophobia mention, overly protective Dex, protective!Dex, racism mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 07:45:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17260319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Denois/pseuds/Denois
Summary: Dex is the sort of guy that would just as soon fight you as look at you. Everyone knows that. Everyone knows that he's always itching for a fight and is willing to fight anyone and everyone, but Nursey especially.  Ask anyone, they'll all say the same.The problem is, they're all wrong.





	Worth Fighting For

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this after a couple of drinks, so it had to have a few rounds of beta reads and some rewrites. Thanks to [Bigspicysenpai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigspicysenpai), [Lukutoukka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lukutoukka), [B_Frizzy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/draskireis>Draskireis</a>,%20and%20<a%20href=).

Dex was eight years old the first time he was sent to the principal’s office for fighting. He had sat in the waiting area with tissues pressed to his bloody nose and gingerly felt his bruised lip while the other boy was taken to the nurse’s office. They’d called his ma and she’d taken off work early to pick him up. He had always suspected it was her having to leave work early that was the reason his dad spanked him that night, but he didn’t have any proof. His dad might have just been against fighting. 

His ma certainly was. 

“What were you thinking, Billy? You know you just gotta shrug off whatever they say. Nothing they say is more important than you staying in school and getting an education. You hear?”

He’d nodded along and made a mental note to be more careful. 

Bryan smiled at him the next day, but never spoke to him again. No one ever asked why he’d hit Mike before he could push Bryan and he never told.

Instead, he learned to just put himself in the way. The bullies would back off or move to him. He could take it, after all.

The next couple dozen times he was sent to the principal’s office for fighting, the other boy was there, too. He still got in trouble, still got cuffed in the ear by his dad, even in high school. But they hard a harder time laying it all on him when he hadn’t hit the other boy. 

Hockey was the best though. He was supposed to protect his teammates. He was allowed to hit the other team if they hit his team, within certain parameters. Even if he hit them wrong, he just had to sit out for a bit. There were no calls to his mother, no missed work, no spankings. 

But if word started to go around in Bantams that starting stuff when Billy Poindexter was playing meant he’d end it? Well, that was accurate. 

And if word started going around in high school that Billy Poindexter was always spoiling for a fight and would take any excuse you threw at him? Well, that was less accurate, but it generally made people mind their own damn business.

College was different. People didn’t know him there. Still, they saw the set of his jaw, the way his eyes swept the crowd, and they made assumptions. Everyone knew that William Poindexter got into fights on a regular basis. The fact that he hadn’t thrown a punch on or off the ice since he was eight didn’t matter. It was what everyone knew. 

Everyone also thought they knew why he’d picked Samwell, and they were wrong about that too. Not that Derek Nurse wasn’t worth picking a school over. He just wasn’t the deciding factor.

No, Dex remembered the moment he decided to go to Samwell clearly. He remembered the prospect tour goodie bags with mini pies, baked by a member of the team. The team member who Derek thought was a manager. A hockey player who baked (better than Dex’s ma, though he’d never tell her that), who was small and kind hearted. 

Eric Richard Bittle. 

Derek Nurse was wicked hot, but he could take care of himself.

Which was, perhaps, why it was so annoying that Nursey seemed intent on picking a fight with Dex. First over Dex’s choice of chirps against the opposing teams, then over innocuous comments, and the last slice of pie. Pretty much everything. 

Still, thanks to Chowder, they spent time together. And thanks to the coaches, he supposed, since they’d made them line partners. But mostly Chowder. 

Because Chowder was another one that Dex couldn’t stand to think of being hurt. 

One of the first lessons that Dex had learned was that people that he wanted to protect might appreciate not being hurt, but they rarely appreciated knowing that he thought they needed protection. Plus, he’d seen Chowder in the crease and knew that he wasn’t defenseless. 

Still, Dex felt the need to protect Chowder stronger than he had for nearly anyone else. 

It was a natural progression, standing between Chris and anyone that might want to hurt him, walking on the street side to block him from rogue cars, to doing the same for Nurse.

It took an embarrassingly long time for Dex to realize that Nursey needed that as much or more than Chowder. It wasn’t until he heard slurs and sneers thrown at Nursey at Stop and Shop the one time they’d had to go to Smelly Stop and Shop instead of Murder, and saw Nursey attempt to shrink and fold himself into the shape of chill, like he was origami. Dex started volunteering to help on Stop and Shop runs more often.

The first, and only, time Dex dropped gloves in a game, was after a snide comment made by a left winger from Dartmouth in his junior year. He wouldn’t even be able to repeat it later, if he’d been asked, though he remembered it involving sexuality and race. He didn’t remember making the decision to drop gloves. All he remembered was that when the refs pulled them apart, the Dartmouth winger was still laughing through a split lip while a black eye started to form, and the last words that Dex heard from him before being escorted off the ice with a towel pressed to his bloody nose. “I see, ginger boy, bet you’re fiery in bed for him too, eh? Those ears make a good handle?”

Dex left the ice for the locker room and didn’t look back. 

That night, Nursey had slammed into their hotel room and thrown his bag at one of the beds. 

“What the fuck, Poindexter? Winger gets mouthy and you get yourself ejected? Were you trying to hand them the win?”

Dex shook his head and climbed into the bed that Nursey’s bag hadn’t bounced off of. “I didn’t think, but I’m not going to regret it. You’d understand if you’d heard him talk.”

Nursey scoffed. “Of course. You’re fucking lucky. Not all of us have the privilege to fight everyone that makes snide comments about us. Keep your damn fights off the ice.”

Then he’d locked himself in the bathroom and didn’t come out before Dex went to sleep. Nursey might only ever express his anger at Dex, but that didn’t mean Dex wanted to hear it. Especially not when his nose might be broken and hurt like hell.

The coaches made him sit out two games, even though he didn’t qualify for an official suspension. Bully had been pulled up to first line with him after Nursey’s injury and was solid with Nursey, too. Dex was briefly worried that he’d be bumped down a line, but they brought him back the next week after the doctors cleared him.

Nursey didn’t talk to him for three weeks, outside of practice and games. They were back to sitting with other people on the bus. They weren’t rooming together on roadies and he didn’t know if Ford decided that or if Nursey asked for it. 

He understood then, why dogs will do things they know they aren’t allowed just to get their owners to yell at them. Part of him itched for a fight with anyone. Just to prove Nursey right. 

That’s when Dex knew that he was well and truly fucked. Because Nursey wasn’t the first boy that he’d been willing to fight for. 

But this was the first time in his life that he’d wanted to pick a fight.

He didn’t, for a number of reasons: he couldn’t afford bail money or hospital bills; his ma would be disappointed; it wouldn’t actually help anyone. 

Possibly the most important reason though: He didn’t actually know how to fight. His brother had beaten the shit out of him a few times growing up, sure, and all the fights in school where he mostly just tried to block . But there were only the two times that he’d actually participated in the fight and he was pretty sure that the damage he’d done both times had been due to luck and size more than skill.

He was sitting in his basement bungalow, reading Claude McKay instead of working on his database structures, because that’s what you do when you are well and truly fucked and the boy that’s got you sideways is a poetry guy with a thing for the Harlem Renaissance, when Nursey showed up at his door to talk. At least he knocked and waited for Dex to answer before coming in.

“Tango asked me something the other day and I’ve been trying to think of the answer ever since.” Nursey started without preamble as he stepped into the bungalow and chose a chair to sit in.

Dex raised an eyebrow but didn’t respond. Instead, he sat down as well and waited for Nursey to finish his thoughts.

“He asked me how many fights you’ve been in. And I’ve been thinking about it. Because, I mean, you’re Dex. You get into fights all the time. It’s what you do. But other than our shouting, shoving, whatever matches, I can’t remember any.” Nursey was leaned over with his forearms on his knees and looking up at Dex. Which was actually an unfair position for him to be in, but Dex couldn’t exactly explain that to him. 

Dex crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. 

“And the thing is, no one else that I asked could think of any specific fights either. So, I guess I’m asking you. How many fights _have_ you been in?” 

Dex took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose. He was pretty sure Nursey only meant ones where he'd been an active participant. “Two.”

Nursey’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Ok, it wasn’t on the ice. We’d have remembered another ejection. Was it on campus? Or those guys that like to start shit over on Redwood on the way to Stop and Shop?”

“It was on the playground. Second grade. I was eight. The other boy’s name was Mike. And funnily enough, it was also over him running his mouth about a third boy. Bryan didn’t talk to me after the fight either.” Dex stood up and moved towards the door. “Was that all you needed? I really should be working on my database homework.”

He felt hollowed out as he stared at the wall above Nursey’s head. Like he’d just bared all of himself and didn’t expect to get the pieces back. Nursey was going to take the information and leave, and they’d play together, sure, but he’d never speak to Dex again and Dex would keep going on. He wasn’t sure how many people worth fighting for he’d meet in his life. But he was pretty sure it would never be so many that losing them wouldn’t hurt.

Nursey looked around the room, his eyes pausing on the McKay book on Dex’s desk. He didn’t stand. “When I asked Whiskey if he remembered you getting into fights before, he told me what the Dartmouth guy said that set you off.”

Dex raised his eyebrows, but otherwise didn’t change his expression. “Ok. I don’t even remember what it was.”

Nurse nodded. “He did. See, I heard what he said at the end. About your ears, you hair. I thought he’d just been chirping you. And I’ve been given to believe that looks-based bullying is pretty common for ginger kids to experience, so it didn’t add up. Why’d you go off this time when no one could remember you fighting before? And I’ve overheard some of the shit that Yale has thrown at you. So it didn’t add up, until Whiskey told me what he’d said at the start, that it wasn’t about you at all. Do you remember who it was about?”

Dex forced himself to meet Nursey’s eyes. “You. It was about you.” Dex paused with a shrug. “Maybe Bitty and Chowder too. But I would have just gotten some penalty minutes if it had just been them. It was about you.”

Nursey stood up then, and paced slowly towards Dex. “You shouldn’t have done that. You shouldn’t fight people for me.”

Dex stared back into his eyes, with a slight shrug. “You’re worth fighting for.”

Nursey lifted a hand to Dex’s neck, sliding in slowly, but pausing before closing the gap. Dex rolled his eyes and leaned forward the last bit, bringing their lips together. They separated shortly after because they were both smiling. 

* * *

“I can’t believe I wasn’t your gay awakening. Holster’s going to be so pissed. He owes Ransom fifty bucks.” Nursey snorted and leaned his head on Dex’s shoulder. 

They were tucked together on Dex’s bed, and Dex ran his hands over Nursey’s shoulders, still amazed at the idea that Nursey wanted him too. “Don’t let Holster pay that unless they made the bet during our first semester here. I told Ransom about my high school boyfriend in January frog year.”

Nursey pulled back and stared at him. “First, I can’t believe you kept that from us. Second, you never fought for him. Does that mean you like me more?”

Dex pulled him back in and pressed their foreheads together, allowing their noses to rub. “So much more. I’d die for you.”

“I’d never want you to.”

“Still would. But don’t get too cocky, I’d do the same for Chris.” Dex pressed his lips to Nursey’s. He leaned back and ran the tips of his fingers across Nursey’s forehead and down to his cheek. “I know you can take care of yourself. I just, I feel better when I feel like I’ve done everything I can to give you the best shot of succeeding at that.” He felt like it was important that Nursey understand that he didn’t think that Nursey needed his help all the time. “If you don’t want me to shield you, or be your enforcer, or whatever, then just say, and I’ll back off.”

Nursey leaned into his hand. “We got each other’s backs, right? So, I’ll let you know when I need you to just have my back and not run a screen for me.”

Dex smiled. “Got your back, babe.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tumbls at [SexyDexyNurse](https://sexydexynurse.tumblr.com/) where I babble about these boys, reblob things about them and the Frogs in general and also Holsom. 
> 
> Throw prompts at me [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Denois_Prompts) if you don't wanna use Tumbls.


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